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ISO 14001 Revision Checklist

The new ISO 14001 revision checklist is now ready and the full unabridged version will be available to all delegates who purchase our online Internal Environmental Management System Auditor Course. Samples are available on this web site.
The creation of the checklist is intended to assist auditors who will be grappling with the significant changes the new update to ISO 14001 will bring. For people involved in changing their organisation’s management system, there will be a great deal of work involved. However, the benefits will be equally large, especially where integration is the key aim in the medium term.
The checklist was delayed because the changes to the drafts that have been emerging made it worthwhile delaying until the final draft has emerged. Value chain has been dropped in favour of a more workable approach to managing the aspects of upstream and downstream environmental issues that can be managed or influenced by the organisation.
The checklist provides some interpretation of the bare words of the proposed standard, and by turning them into more useful phrases, the document provides a better understanding of what the requirements are likely to be.
As covered within the online auditor course, the requirements of the standard are only part of the mix that the auditor needs to audit against, but it provides a ‘top-level’ from which requirements relating to lower level procedures and work instructions can be introduced. Operational control procedures are likely to cover a wide variety of company specific actions which must be audited to confirm that they are understood and are being followed by appropriate personnel (in-company personnel, contractors and other parties working under the control of the organisation).
The checklist provides very convenient questions which can be used immediately by auditors and will be especially useful after any upgrade to the new version of ISO 14001 which will be released this year (2015). The questions include some guidance to help auditors understand what the section refers to, for example;Checklist Question
Where additional competency is required, have actions been taken to ensure that these persons acquire the necessary competence and to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures?Note
This may include a range of actions such as re-assigning responsibilities, mentoring, hiring or contracting competent persons to undertake the work).
In some elements, reshaping the language so that the requirement is presented in more understandable form was an additional benefit of the checklist. In previous versions of ISO 14001 (2004 and 1996) similar checklists were created for Marsden International face-to-face training courses, when these were presented in various parts of the world.
We welcome any comments you have on the new standard.

About John Marsden

John Marsden has been involved with the practical implementation of environmental management systems for 25 years and has carried out over 2000 days of 3rd party certification audits since 1996. He is a Fellow of the IEMA and has written and personally delivered ISO 14001 lead auditor training courses in many countries of the world.